Russia stops trading as bear market takes its toll

Euronews

Russia has suspended trading on its two main stock exchanges after sharp recent falls continued. Falling oil prices and the conflict with Georgia, added to the global downturn, have seen investors sell, sell, sell.

Banks have virtually stopped lending to each other, creating a liquidity crisis that’s prompted Moscow to inject more than 26 billion euros to Russia’s three biggest banks.

Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said: “Essentially we’re counting on such banks as Sberbank, Vneshtorbank and Gazprombank as core banks to be able to lend to small and medium banks during this liquidity situation.”

The finance ministry has been criticised for pumping money into the big banks and not doing enough to address directly the problems of the smaller ones.